In the first of a series Rachel Aukes takes readers to a lawless place that is mainly controlled by the Bounty Hunters:

The world is in the Shits. The revolution was supposed to make everything better, but from what Joe can tell nothing has really changed, other than a lot of people died and now he works as a Bounty Hunter. When some brother named Sloan want to make the Wasteland's their own territory there are more than a few Hunter Guilds that want nothing to do with it. But the Sloan brothers refuse to take no for an answer. When they come after the company that Joe works for they're about to learn why he earned the named Havoc in the revolution. Joe hates nothing more than a bully so the Sloan brother better watch out, or they are going to find out why you never corner a Bounty Hunter

This book is a really fun read and for those who love sci-fi and western mash up they are sure to enjoy this book. I recently started watching the Mandalorian (I know I’m late to that party) but this book reminded me of that series just no space travel. Even the cover of the book has some mandalrian flare to it. It has great action/fight scenes that play out in very dramatic fashion, especially if a character named T-Rex is there. He has some creative ideas on how to piss the other guys off, and I really enjoyed every second of those events. It also has quite a bit of heart to it, that I was not expecting from this book.
Joe is a great character, he is loyal to a fault, has some pretty high morals but also a badass to go along with it. Trust me you want Joe to be on your side in a fight. He is resourceful, thinks a few steps ahead but also on the fly. I appreciate that Aukes let Joe get hurt and that he was not invincible and had to compensate when this happened. I really like Joe's loyalty to a fallen soldier from one of the past revolutions and his need to take care of that man's family and also to his employ Reuben even though he could make more money or not have people shooting at him every two seconds if he were to betray him.

The main issue I have with this book is that the World wasn’t fully developed. There were constant reference as to what happened before the world got this way and which side Joe fought for, that I just felt like there was a book before this one. I know there was a revolution, maybe even two to get to the world that Joe is living in now, but even the current world is really undefined. I know they are in the wasteland, but why is is called that? Is there other cities or civilizations outside of the wastelands or is that all that is left after the War(s). This is the area that the book lacks the most, I actually checked to see if there was a book before this one just to make sure it was me and not the book that was off on this point.

I enjoyed this book as it was a fun ride from beginning to end especially if you like cowboy sci-fi action. I look forward to checking out the next book in this series and hope that the world is a little better defined.

Enjoy!!!!

Like so many many others

Bounty hunters have been the stuff of adventure novels for a century or longer and moving them into the future does not automatically endow them with originality. This is The Mandalorian from the dark side and really is not very good. Same old stuff.

Bounty Hunter: Lone Gunfighter of the Wastelands by Rachel Aukes, a great read. I really enjoyed this book, had relatable characters, good plot, and didn't drag in the non-action parts. If you are looking for a read between your favorite authors try this one and maybe you'll have a new favorite author!

Mixing Fallout with the Mandalorian, with a dash of Eastwood's Man with No Name in there for flavor, Rachel Aukes' Bounty Hunter is a fun, summer hammock read. Her characters show growth and depth, with motivations outside the normal "good vs evil", enough worldbuilding to keep you intrigued (I'm still curious to know more about the Ravens and the Wild), and more action than you can shake a stick at. Enough, in fact, that I wouldn't be surprised if it were eventually optioned for a screenplay; it feels like Havoc and his compatriots would be great on a screen. I'm definitely planning on reading book two, and look forward to finding out more.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I assume this is set in the future of Earth but that is not clear. This in a post apocalypse of somewhere and it all makes sense in a wild west fashion. Have you seen Disney+ 'The Mandalorian'? If so then this book will seem very familiar. No spaceships but there are guns that shoot forever. Lots of action and good character development.

In the book Bounty Hunter, author Rachel Aukes writes about Havoc, maybe the last hero after the revelation that is alive. Havoc uses his skills as a bounty hunter but wants to do the right thing. And that gets him in trouble with the Sloan brothers who are raising an army to take over the area.
This was an interesting story style of sci-fi meets wild west. It was an enjoyable read! I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book took me by honest surprise, I don't normally gravitate towards stories with guns and blasters, it just doesn't grab my attention. But bounty hunters and mercenaries and the like, do grab my attention. So the premises of following a bounty hunter had my interest. I am so glad I didn't read the synopsis for this, and just went on title and cover alone, because boy was this a fun, fast paced, and action packed story.

Right from the start we are just thrown into the bounty hunter world of Joe, there is no wait or build up to him being a bounty hunter, this is a man who has been doing this job for some time now and that's where we start his story at. When you met him you just know Joe is going to be that protagonist who just gets involved in others business for it to only go sour, and he does not come up short on this aspect. The action is nonstop throughout this story, which makes for a compelling atmosphere, it pulls you in and makes you want more. Aside from Joe
the cast of characters does not come up short, there was honestly way more characters then I was expecting.

Through the story we met an array of characters from other bounty hunters, a town sheriff, to some adorable as heck kids, and everything else in between. The cast is large but well balanced, the story never loses its focus on Joe being our main leading man, But I wont lie, Kit and Rex won my heart over.

While I appreciated the large cast I will say one of the major things that bothered me was the conversations, specifically ones between the bounty hunters. These guys are suppose to be ex-military (some not all), rough, gruff, no nonsense, shoot first ask questions later kind of guys, but their conversations with each other felt like 13yr old boys bantering back and fourth, my mind pictures early to late 30ish for most of these guys, so the childish banter kind of killed that. Now I'm not saying they needed to be full of swears and nastiness but I mean a little rough language flavor would have sold me a bit more on their rough "personalities", especially Rex, I had expected him to be abit more on the fowl side with the way he is described.

The world-building was a lot smaller in comparison to the characters and plot, From what I am hoping I understood, its a world in the distant future where a ton of wars just laid waste to lands and now people struggle to get by in what is pretty much the Wastelands. The world building is minimal but I do think that is do to the amount of work that was put into all the action, Joe didn't have much time to stop and take in the flowers, if you know what I mean, but this did make it a bit hard at times to understand what possible location style I was suppose to envisioning in my mind.

The only other thing that I wasn't particularly fond of was the mutant story-line. That was so odd and felt so out of place, It just kind of snuck up and then it was gone. So unless this will be touched upon more in later books, right now, it just felt strange and left me confused.

I will be continuing this series, as I really like the characters, and frankly I am a nosy person when it comes to background stories, so a girl can only hope she will learn what happened in Westown!

This novel is less sci-fi than a post-apocalyptic action novel. The main characters are mostly former soldiers, most of whom served in 3+ wars in a recent history that also involved humans living underground for 7 generations. The central point of view is a bounty hunter named Havoc (Joe) who introduces us to the idea that guilds of bounty hunters act as a sort of police force to deliver people to "justice" as determined by the MRC, a somewhat laissez-faire government that is being subverted from within. The bounty hunter (I keep picturing the Mandalorian) ends up in the middle of a war between guilds as well as between a sheriff and those trying to take over the region.
The descriptions of the world come as flashbacks or thoughts while characters are moving between action scenes. Although, a good way to get a sense of things would be to think of the original Fallout game followed by wars in which the hero has acquired really good armor. Dog is even a character (kinda)!
There were a couple of problems though. One is the sheer amount of world building and action that (based on the story) had taken place in the lifetime of what seems to be a under-middle-aged main character. The second were the references to things from today's world that were used as sayings our descriptions. Sometimes they were write-off as read in a book, other times they were just dismissed as something old people said. The reason this bugged ne is that this is set 7 generations after a series of apocalyptic events. No one from before would still be alive to recall things like fireworks used as celebration. Not a huge thing, but it would take me out of the story occasionally.
It was enjoyable enough to hold my interest so long as I wasn't needing anything too deep. It was fun though and a nice light read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read a pre-release copy of this book.

If you like your fantasy books to be all action, then give this one a look. This first in a planned long series is action from start to finish. In fact, it's almost devoid of any kind of world building because the characters just can't stop fighting long enough to notice much about their surroundings. Character development is also rather lean but some of that might be because there are lots of throw-away characters here. Don't plan on having everybody on the good-guy team surviving.

The nucleus of characters has been established and they range from hard bitten bounty hunters - who will take on any job for a price - all the way to a rescued dog. Add in the widow of a bounty hunter, her son and an orphaned girl and you are all set for a great number of possible plot developments. This is Earth at least seven generations into the future where stark is a condition everybody is familiar with. There was a nuclear war and people still die from the radiation if the wind comes from the wrong direction and you are caught outside. See, stark. The bad guys are the kind you love to jeer at and the good guys have hearts of gold under their exoshields. Joe Ballast (Havoc) has that required heart of gold but it only extends to a tiny circle of people so, offer him a job and he's off to kill somebody.

This may not be great literature but the writing is quite good, you are given plain direction as to who is *good* and who is *bad* (in case you need some help) and this series has the gumption to leave me with a cliffhanger of sorts and make me not care. Next episode available in May. Stock up on popcorn, y'all, cause this new war is about to heat up again. Plans appear to be for a new book to be released from April to October 2020. Now if somebody would just invent a spaceship.

Thank you to NetGalley and Waypoint Books for an e-galley of this smokin' hot adventure.

Bounty Hunter: Lone Gunfighter of the Wastelands
by Rachel Aukes

What a fun way to escape today. Well, perhaps escaping to a post apocalyptic world while in the midst of a real pandemic might not be everyone’s cup of tea but it really worked for me. Instead of being locked in during a lock-down I escaped to a ruthless world filled with interesting characters and earth as I hope to never see it in my lifetime. With greedy evil men trying to take over the world, people just trying to survive, bounty hunters out to get their wo/men, not enough for everyone and violence and death a daily occurrence this book made me think...what if? I mean, what would I do if I lived in that time and place? What would I be willing to do to survive? It also made me consider what a hero really is. I can definitely see this as a graphic novel or movie and can’t wait to read more by this author.

What I liked:
* Joe Ballast – Havoc – Bounty hunter who gets his man and doesn’t think about the man while doing his job. He does, however, think and care about a few people and takes in strays from time to time.
* The way the story was written – felt I was there and all of my senses were engaged
* The backstory that set the stage
* Sara and Nick – they gave Joe a reason to care and made him a bit more human
* Romy – plucky young girl
* Champ – a canine survivor
* T-Rex – he made me smile...kind of a brute but an interesting one
* The crafting of the world in the story with guilds and cutters and all the rest
* Being able to relate to the people in the story and the situations they found themselves in
* Val – a good woman that I would like to know better
* Kit – an interesting character
* The feeling that Val, Kit and Joe might be a bit like the three musketeers in the next book as they continue with the story but would that make T-Rex D’artagnan?

What I didn’t like:
* The evil men… but then, I wasn’t supposed to like them!
* Having to wait to find out what will happen next

Thank you to NetGalley and Waypoint Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

A bad-ass hero with a soft spot set in a dystopian world twisted like an old- fashioned western.
It's about Havoc, a veteran of previous wars who earns his living as a bounty hunter. With bounty hunters being the closet thing to something like the police in this world, even though it's like the law for the highest bidder.

This is a fast paced and action packed story that I totally recommend, and I'm very much looking forward to the next book in the series.

Bounty Hunter: Lone Gunfighter of the Wastelands was a fabulous read! Think a bit of the Mandalorian, a bit of the Wild West, and a bit of Mad Max (the world is a wasteland after all) and you have one heck of a story. The book was fast paced and Joe Ballast (HAVOC) the bounty hunter is such an interesting MC. I also really liked the secondary characters and the bad guys are just so, so bad. I can’t wait to read the next book.

I was provided with an electronic ARC through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Aukes paints a bleak picture of the world, with little hope for the few remaining survivors. I thought the characters were all well developed and easy to relate to. The plot is fast paced. There were many twists and turns in the story to keep you on your toes. I am looking for the next in the sequel.